Kelley: Hey, we have to get our annual Oscar column done. Did you download the free Oscars app from the Academy on your iPad? It’s pretty slick. There’s a lot of multimedia information about the nominees, and on the night of the awards there are multiple video angles to give you a feel of actually being at the event and backstage. It looks great on my iPad 2 and might even look cool on your first-generation iPad.
Mark: Thanks for pointing out that I always seem to be a version behind. Yes, I downloaded the app as well. The Academy seems to be making a big effort this year to be more social media friendly. You can challenge your Facebook friends through the My Picks contest, follow insider tweets, and interact in many ways.
Kelley: By the way, the iPad 3 is coming out later this spring and then you’ll be two versions behind.
Mark: Gosh, thanks. Well anyway, the Oscars app might be a good opportunity to plug the fact that the Truax Library has 10 iPad 2’s on hand to check out to explore and use in the library. At http://libguides.matcmadison.edu/ereaders they can find out more about the iPads and other tablets like Kindle Fires and Nooks.
Kelley: It’s interesting, though, that while the Academy is trying to be hipper and more technology-friendly with the ceremony, many of the nominated films are looking to the past.
Mark: Definitely, many articles and blogs have written that the overriding theme of the films nominated this year is nostalgia. The two most nominated films, “The Artist” and “Hugo,” are set in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Plus, “The Artist” is a silent, black-and-white movie.
Kelley: Yes, and my favorite film, “Midnight in Paris,” is about a writer working on a novel about a nostalgia shop that is transported back in time to 1920’s Paris and hangs out with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, Dali and others.
Mark: A lot of the social buzz about the nominations seems to argue that they aren’t edgy enough and that the nostalgia theme indicates people are just looking for a safe feeling.
Kelley: There’s a quote in “Midnight in Paris” by one of the characters that nostalgia is a denial of the painful present and a flaw in the romantic imagination of those that can’t deal with the present. Films with apocalyptic themes like “Melancholia” or “Take Shelter” didn’t get nominated.
Mark: That might be a fair argument, but I think you can look at it from a different angle. “The Artist” shows that with good acting and good writing a captivating story can be made without the aid of a lot of nifty technological effects. While “Hugo” celebrates the creative skills of early filmmaking, it was the first time Martin Scorsese incorporated 3D technology in making a film and he commented on channeling the spirit of early filmmakers in being creative with technologies available to them.
Kelley: And in “Midnight in Paris” the character realizes he can’t live in the past and needs to deal with the present, but he incorporates what he likes from the past into how he’s going to live in the present.
Mark: Even in another nominated film, “The Descendents,” issues from the past help dictate the course of action the main character takes in the present.
Kelley: OK, but how can we tie the nostalgia theme into the library column?
Mark: Well, how about that while you’re learning and using the newest technologies in the library, take advantage of the history and wealth of ideas that are also available. Whatever format the information is in, let the ideas and thoughts in them challenge you and help you shape a life you want to live.
Kelley: That’s a little bit cheesy, but sure, let’s go with it.